Switch section for a rotary electric switch



g- 1966 B. J. GOLBECK ETAL 3,268,674

SWITCH SECTION FOR A ROTARY ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed Jan. 29, 1965 E- z4 10 m 14 J 11 18 an M M m 14 5?! 14 z 19 ""ERNiZ -x 6%I%%2K 5 JOHN H. WILLIAMS BY I I ,w y

United States Patent Filed Jan. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 429,016 1 Claim. (Cl. 200--11) This invention relates in general to rotary switches; and more particularly to a new and improved rotary electric switch section, and to the method of manufacturing the same.

Heretofore, the rotor and stator of a switch section have been formed from different pieces of material, with the rotor usually being somewhat thicker than the stator, and carrying one or more rotor contacts which are movable into and out of engagement with stator contacts mounted on the stator. In the past, stator sections have usually been manufactured by die cutting or otherwise perforating a blank to form a bore for rotatably accommodating a rotor, and to provide a plurality of apertures for mounting the stator contacts. Rotor sections have been manufactured by die cutting or otherwise perforating a separate blank to form a bore for a switch shaft, and to form a plurality of apertures for mounting the rotor contacts. It is conventional to stack or laminate a plurality of layers of suitable insulating material to provide a rotor which is somewhat thicker than the stator. The rotor is then assembled in the stator bore, and the rotor and stator contacts are secured to their respective sections, to complete the switch section. The thicker rotor section provides running clearance between the rotor contacts and the stator. Such switch sections have proven to be expensive to manufacture. These switch sections are expensive to manufacture because the portion which is removed from the stator blank to form the stator bore is discarded as scrap and wasted. Accordingly, the general purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved switch section of the character described.

An object of the invention is to provide a rotary electric switch section which is simple in construction, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method for manufacturing a rotary electric switch section as described above.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary electric switch as described above wherein the rotor and the stator are provided from the same piece of material.

A related object of the invention is to utilize the portion of the stator section which is removed therefrom to form the stator bore as the rotor section.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a rotary electric switch section wherein the stator and rotor contacts are free to flex transversely of the plane of the switch section so that the rotor contacts can move into and out of engagement with the stator contacts without interference.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a switch section as described above wherein the tail of the rotor contacts retain the rotor against axial movement relative to the stator.

These and other objects of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description taken in connection with the annexed drawing, wherein: 7

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of a rotary electric switch section embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a generally central sectional view through a switch section such as that shown in FIGURE 1; and

Patented August 23, 1966 FIGURE 3 is a central sectional view similar to FIG- URE 2, but showing a different form of the invention.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawing and will herein be described in detail one specific embodiment and a modification thereof, with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein like reference characters design-ate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, the switch section 10, illustrated in FIGURE 1, is shown to include a stator 11, a rotor 12, a rotor contact 13, and a plurality of stator contacts 14. Stator 10 is formed from a suitable piece of insulating material, and includes a bore 15 and a plurality of sets of radially aligned apertures 16, 17 and 18. The rotor 12 includes a central opening 19 of the non-circular crosssectional configuration (as a Double-D configuration) for reception of a complementary shaped driving shaft. As can be best seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, the thickness of rotor 12 is substantially the same as the thickness of stator 11, and the outer diameter of rotor 12 is slightly less than the inner diameter of the bore 15. Rotor 12 is provided with a plurality of spaced apertures 20 adjacent the outer periphery thereof for mounting of the rotor contact 13.

The stator contacts 14 are formed from a resilient piece of conductive material which is folded upon itself to define a pair of contact legs 21 and 22, that terminate in contact jaws 23 and 24, respectively. Each stator contact 14 is provided with an aperture 25 between the ends thereof, and each of the apertures 25 are positioned in alignment with a stator aperture 17. The outer end of each stator contact 14 is positioned in alignment with a stator aperture 18, and the outer ends of the stator contacts are inclined away from the plane of the stator. If

desired, the outer ends of the stator contacts may be bent downwardly through its respective aperture 18. Each pair of stator contact jaws 23 and 24 is positioned in alignment with a stator aperture 16, and the jaws 23 extend downwardly slightly into the aperture 16. A suitable fastener, such as rivet 26, impales each pair of aligned apertures 17 and 25, and the outer ends of the rivets 26 are deformed into engagement with the stator contact legs 22 to retain the stator contacts 14 on the stator 11. The rivets 26 urge the stator contact jaws 23 and 24 into engagement with one another in a plane which is spaced slightly from, and parallel with the plane of the stator 11, and the stator contact jaws 23 and 24 are free to flex transversely of the plane of stator 11 because of their alignment with aperture 16. Certain of the stator contacts 14 may be longer than the other stator contacts and to receive them, elongated openings 16a and 18a (FIGURE 1) are provided.

Rotor contact 13 includes an annular ring 28 having a first radially enlarged portion 28a and a second further radially enlarged portion 28b. As is well known in the art, a long stator contact, as for example the stator contact aligned with openings 16a and 18a, is in constant engagement with rotor cont-act portion 28, while rotor contact portion 28a may move into and out of engagement with stator contacts of intermediate length, and rotor contact portion 28b moves into and out of engagement with the shorter stator contact. A plurality of legs 29 extend generally downwardly from the ring 28 at the inner diameter thereof, and are positioned in openings 20, as can be best seen in FIGURE 2. The lowermost portion 29a of the legs 29 are bent outwardly so as to face on the stator.

. 3 underlie the innermost portion of the stator 11. The bent leg portions 29a provide means for positively restraining the rotor 12 against axial movement relative to the stator 11. Legs 29 are bent so that leg portions 29a diverge slightly with respect to contact portion 28, to provide running clearance for the rotor.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 3, it will be noted that pairs of stator contacts 14 are provided on opposite sides of the stator 11, and are retained by a common rivet 26. Rotor contacts 13 are provided on both the top and bottom surfaces of the rotor 12, and the rotor contact legs 29 on each rotor contact pass thr-ugh alternate openings 20 in the rotor 12. With such a construction, the lower end of the rotor contact legs 29 are deformed outwardly, as shown at 2912, to retain the rotor contacts on the rotor. The annular rotor contact portions 28, on both the top and the bottom of the rotor are provided with offset portions 28a which are spaced from and generally parallel the plane of the stator to provide suitable running clearance for the rotor.

The aforedescribed switch sections are manufactured by first punching, die cutting, or otherwise forming the openings 16-20 in a single piece of material. The rotor 12 is then cut or otherwise removed from the blank, andthe size relationship between the resulting stator bore and the rotor 12 is altered so that the outer diameter of the rotor is less than the inner diameter of the bore. This may be accomplished by either scraping the bore 15 or the outer periphery of the rotor 12, but it is preferred to scrape the bore 15 to provide a smooth bearing sur- In an illustrative embodiment, wherein the outer diameter of the rotor is 5421538 inches the inner diameter of the bore 15 is shaved to 548338? inches When it is desired to assemble the switch section, the rotor 12 is inserted in the bore 15, and the contacts 13 and 14 are mounted on the rotor 12 and the stator 11, respectively. The stator is preferably of an insulating material as a phenolic resin. paper base phenolic sheet has excellent properties. .The punching operation which removes the rotor 12 from the More particularly, a XXXP,

stator opening leaves a rough surface in the opening 15. The shaving process by which the opening is enlarged smooths the surface providing a smooth bearing for the rotor.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that the present invention provides a novel and compact switch section which is inexpensive to manufacture and reliable in use, and which fully accomplishes each of the objects of the invention.

We claim:

A multi-position rotary switch of the character described, comprising a stator having a rotor opening therein with a plurality of wiper clips thereon, surrounding the rotor opening, and a rotor in the rotor opening with a switch blade thereon for coaction with said wiper clips, said stator and rotor being of a phenolic resin material of the same thickness, the switch being formed y removing a disc from a composite stator-rotor blank,

forming the rotor opening, the disc forming the rotor,

scraping one of the peripheral facing surfaces of the stator and rotor to provide clearance and a smooth bearing surface between the stator and, rotor, and mounting plate means on the rotor, said plate means including said switch blade, which extend outwardly from the periphery of the rotor and have outer edge portions on eachside of the stator surface surrounding said rotor opening, the outer edge portions of said plate means being spaced apart a distance greater than the thickness of said sheet material to provide running clearance with said stator.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,554,724 5/1951 Williams 200-11 2,594,190 4/ 1952 Mastney 200-11 2,989,710 6/1961 Gelzer et al. 3,174,000 3/1965 Gol-beck 20011 3,177,306 4/ 1965 Mast-ney 200-11 ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT S. MACON, Examiner. J. R. SCOTT, Assistant Examiner. 

